Search - 2003

 
 
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2004

Rebuilding a safe society

This year's white paper on crime opens, on the first page, with the proclaimed aim of restoring Japan as "the safest country in the world" and closes, on the final page, with the expressed determination to achieve this goal. The report seems to convey the Ministry of Justice's concern and sense of tension...
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2004

Latest EU expansion poses more economic problems than benefits

Despite the political significance of completing the reunification of Cold War-divided Europe, this year's enlargement of the European Union creates few near-term economic benefits and poses major challenges for the region, an expert with a British institute told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Lolitas' bard is sitting pretty

The morgue-like, air-conditioned lobby of Tokyo's Keio Plaza Hotel is the haunt of businessmen in crisp black suits who sip $10 coffees and nod along to conversations that never rise above a murmur. But the studied cool is broken when Novala Takemoto swishes in, drawing faces in his direction like sunflowers...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Metro government plans 300-inmate jail near Harajuku

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced Friday that it plans to build a new police station near JR Harajuku Station that will have a jail capable of holding 300 people.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Koizumi faces heavy APEC weekend

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left Friday for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile, where he will have to juggle a wide range of diplomatic issues that span the Pacific.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Asbestos use still widespread in Asia, as are its ills: expert

Asia needs to ban the use of asbestos and conduct studies on people who have become ill from exposure or asbestos-related diseases will never end, according to a specialist.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Sanrio to issue BTM 20 billion yen in new shares

Sanrio Co. said Thursday it will issue about 20 billion yen worth of new shares to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and other firms to prop up its capital base.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2004

Derailment mars shinkansen safety myth

Reverberations from the bullet train derailment in Niigata Prefecture on Oct. 23 continue to echo across Japan, as experts debate whether it was luck or skill that saved the day for the passengers roughed up by the series of strong earthquakes.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2004

Bribery nets ex-dental exec suspended term

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a former executive of the scandal-tainted Japan Dental Association to a suspended one-year prison term Thursday for bribing members of a government panel.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 18, 2004

The right way to teach values in school

How do you teach a child right from wrong? I certainly don't have all the answers. In our home, we're still working on why you can't hit your brother, even when he's being deliberately annoying -- as he has been all this week, answering any direct question with nonsense ("What do you want for dinner?"...
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2004

Inpex fetches 549,000 yen in debut on first section

Inpex Corp., a government-affiliated oil exploration company, proved popular in its debut Wednesday on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange, ending the day at 549,000 yen, 18.1 percent higher than its initial public offering price of 465,000 yen.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 18, 2004

Tabuse a national team candidate

Phoenix Suns point guard Yuta Tabuse will be named to the list of candidates for the men's basketball national team next year, Japan head coach Zeljko Pavlicevic said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 17, 2004

A new world order in a school gym

British sculptor Antony Gormley (born in London in 1950) is one of the foremost sculptors of his generation. A winner of the Turner Prize in 1994, Gormley is a conceptual artist working in a physical medium: He revitalized the sculptural vocabulary of the human form to articulate the universal abstract...
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2004

U.S. steel company drawing a bead on Mitsui Mining

International Steel Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. steelmaker, has notified the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan of its interest in buying Mitsui Mining Co., sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 17, 2004

Satire booms in dark dramatic fantasies

Darwin tells us that mutation is the motor of evolution, and in the theater world the young playwright Martin McDonagh and the dramatist Matsuo Suzuki are each bringing a completely new approach to their art in Britain and Japan respectively.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2004

Economy 'taking a breather'

The government has revised its assessment of the economy downward for the first time since June 2003, citing slowdowns in exports and production, according to a monthly report issued Tuesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 17, 2004

Mound relief almost backfired for MLB pitchers

The visiting Major League Baseball All-Stars left Japan Nov. 14 with a 5-3 series victory over their All-Japan opponents but, ironically, a change in the pitching mounds designed to help the big leaguers for the final three games of the tour almost resulted in disaster for the visitors. Let me explain....
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2004

Danish Queen Margrethe arrives for visit

Danish Queen Margrethe will help kick off celebrations marking next year's bicentennial of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish fairy tale writer, during an eight-day visit to Japan that began Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2004

Princess Nori to marry Tokyo metro bureaucrat

Princess Nori, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, will marry Yoshiki Kuroda, an official in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, a senior Imperial Household Agency official said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2004

'Dirty bomb' threat rising

SYDNEY -- The day terrorists start blackmailing democratic governments with homemade "dirty bombs" is closer than people think. World leaders must act now to prevent such a demonstrable nuclear catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2004

Strategy maximizes Iraqi civilian deaths

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The stunning revelations that postinvasion Iraqi deaths are three to 10 times higher than any previous estimates will be a major embarrassment for the Bush administration.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 13, 2004

Jol hoping to put a foot in Tottenham's revolving door

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur appointed a new man to take charge of the first-team this week -- so, no change there then.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Lawyers go after reformist debt collector

An American businessman who tried to improve the way debts are collected in Japan from the oft yakuza-linked intimidation route was arrested last week amid growing pressure by lawyer groups to crack down on unauthorized parties encroaching on their turf.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Chinese submarine intrusion considered an act of provocation

The Defense Agency said Friday the intrusion of a Chinese submarine into Japan's territorial waters was a highly provocative act by the Chinese Navy.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go